Huskies Returning To Garden to Play Maryland in Jimmy V Classic

UConn Huskies Will Play Maryland in Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden

The Huskies continue to build formidable and unforgiving nonconference schedules for the future. On Monday, ESPN announced its participants for the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden December and UConn, which will play Maryland, is in the field.

UConn is already under contract to play Ohio State and Georgetown at home, and Texas on the road next season. In the Battle 4 Atlantis, they will be in a field that includes Syracuse, Gonzaga, Texas, Washington, Texas A&M, Michigan and Charlotte.

So the Huskies figure to have at least six high-level opponents outside the American Athletic Conference in 2015-16.

The Jimmy V Classic also gives UConn a chance to play at The Garden, something the program has tried to continue since the old Big East broke up. UConn was in the Jimmy V. Classic in 2012, where it lost to NC State. They were in the 2K Classic last season, where they beat BC and Indiana, and again in the NCAA Regional, where they beat Iowa State and Michigan State on the road to the national championship. UConn’s history at The Garden, of course, is long and filled with great memories.

The Huskies opened last season against Maryland at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. This year, UConn’s one scheduled trip to the New York area will be the game against Duke in East Rutherford, N.J. on Dec. 18.

The 2015 Jimmy V Classic will be a doubleheader at the Garden on Dec. 8, one year from today, with Virginia playing West Virginia and UConn playing Maryland. The games benefit the V Foundation for cancer research.

“We at UConn are honored and proud to be invited to again be asked to participate,” Kevin Ollie said, in a statement released by the ESPN. “First and foremost we’re pleased to be able to help the V Foundation, which does such an outstanding job funding research to move us closer to someday wiping out this terrible disease. Secondly, we are looking forward to playing against another great program in Maryland in such an exciting basketball atmosphere as Madison Square Garden, where our fans always give us such tremendous support.”